After the momentous decision to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympics until the 23rd of July 2021, star Kookaburra Kurt Lovett has returned to Parkes to train in isolation and prepare for a return to play.
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"We will get a six week notice to get back to Perth, and then we need another six weeks on top of that to train as a team in order to be ready for competitive matches," says Kurt.
The star forward made his Kookaburras debut on the 2nd of February, and played three games in the international FIH Pro League competition before the rest of the games were postponed.
It's been a whirlwind couple of months for the Parkes local after he was initially named in the Kookaburras squad in November. He moved to Perth, where all squad members are based, in January, was back in Sydney to make his debut in February and then headed to India to play two games later that month.
If that wasn't crazy enough, the whole squad was called into a meeting at 8am on the 23rd of March before a scheduled training session and informed the Olympics were being postponed for one year.
"We all mutually agreed we wouldn't be training, and by 12pm four of us were driving back home to the East Coast across the Nullarbor.
It took us five days, though we managed to play a bit on the Nullarbor Links golf course which was awesome. None of the pubs were open so all the locals came out to watch us," says Kurt.
Since he has returned to Parkes, Kurt has been helping out his parents, John and Fiona, at their Sportspower store in town. He also plans to work a couple of days per week for a neighbour's floor sanding business- just to keep himself busy.
"I've really missed the routine of training in Perth, so I want to keep myself doing stuff. Initially they just told us to rest and do some general fitness for maintenance, but we should be ramping up to some more specific training this week with a new program," says Kurt.
When asked what advice he would give to kids trying to stay motivated in isolation, it was all about routine: "It's important to have some kind of routine and exercise at the same time every single day. It gives you something to look forward to," Kurt says.
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